For his disastrous shot-for-shot 1998 remake of
Alfred Hitchcock's landmark thriller Psycho, filmmaker
Gus Van Sant enlisted
Danny Elfman to tweak
Bernard Herrmann's seminal original score, arguably the most innovative and influential Hollywood music of the postwar era. Recorded with antique microphones to lend the endeavor some semblance of authenticity,
Elfman's fidelity to
Herrmann's work nevertheless extends only so far -- this new
Psycho is faster, louder, and more feral than the original, yet the music's familiarity effectively dulls its impact. With
Herrmann's original score still readily available, one questions precisely what purpose
Elfman's update serves -- and why such a daring, unique composer would agree to step into such impossibly large shoes in the first place. ~ Jason Ankeny